Get to know that Instagram friend, that artist, the founder and more. This is your opportunity to talk about the power of real conversations with talented people, getting right to the straight talk, a chance to really network and understand the importance.

Taking place at Peckham Levels, meet a new network of inspiring women!

As part of fundraising for the Great River Race, one of our members is hosting a charity yoga day to raise money for Nonceba Family Counselling Centre in South Africa.

The team have set themselves an ambitious fundraising target and in addition to donations, Vasiliki is holding a series of yoga events at The Power Yoga Company for those who want to support her in achieving her target and do a little yoga.

There is a minimum donation of £5 and only 30 spaces so its first come, first served.

In preparation to galvanise period activism across the country (world?), Bloody Good Period invites you to The Period Is Political.

Yes! Led by Gabby Edlin, the founded of Bloody Good Period, the panel discussion will be involving the US menstrual equity activist Jennifer Weiss Wolf, The Body Shop’s Head of Brand Activism Jessie Macneil-Brown, and #endtampontax campaigner Laura Coryton.

A night of optimism, empowerment and jaw dropping performances in Calgary to raise funds for the victims of trafficking. There will be a silent auction where you can win incredible prizes and a number of talks from activists and experts in the field.

By supporting BRAVE Education programs, you are helping provide life-saving prevention education in schools and communities. Our Goal is to have sex trafficking prevention education included in curriculum for all Alberta children from Grades 4 and up, given the average age of recruitment is 12-14, across all demographics.

Members and friends of The London Circle, a collective within The Circle, will be rowing the Great River Race in September to raise funds for The Circle to go towards supporting the Nonceba Family Counselling Centre in South Africa. They will be completing this challenge in a dragon boat, a skill new to the entire team, who will be training hard over the coming months.

The Great River Race is London’s River Marathon, a spectacular boat race along the River Thames that attracts over 330 crews from across the globe.
For the seventeen women who are taking part, this will surely be a challenge. Although some are experienced rowers, none of them have ever paddled a dragon boat before and regardless of ability, they will all be pushing themselves for a fantastic cause.

There is still time to donate to the team, or how about going to cheer them on?

Following the resounding success of the first evening held in March 2018 at Sadler’s Wells Theatre, London – Annie Lennox will once again share thoughts, memories and reflections during an event of conversation, musical performance and visual imagery on 26th September 2019.

We are absolutely thrilled that Annie will be doing this event again to raise funds and awareness for us and our work. All proceeds from the evening ‘Annie Lennox – An Evening of Music and Conversation’ will be donated to The Circle to help us create transformative change in the lives of girls and women facing the challenges of gender disempowerment across the globe.
Unfortunately, this event is now sold out.

From September, The Oxford Circle will be rolling out a regular programme of events and are inviting you to join them for their next event, The Oxford Circle x After Hours at The Ashmolean.

Network with incredible women, enjoy live music, and enjoy the surroundings of some of the exquisite Ashmolean galleries. There will be a cash bar, and we will be running a raffle with prizes donated by local businesses to raise money for The Oxford Circle’s current project, the Nonceba Women’s Shelter.

Amá is a feature length documentary which tells an important and untold story: the abuses committed against Native American women by the United States Government during the 1960’s and 70’s: removed from their families and sent to boarding schools, forced relocation away from their traditional lands and involuntary sterilization.

The Circle are screening this incredible film as part of our Global Feminism film series. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with the Director, Lorna Tucker who will be joined by Charon Asetoyer.

We would like to invite our members to the launch of our Chai Day 2019 campaign. This evening will be an opportunity to network with fellow members, learn more about our Chai Day projects and hear from some incredible speakers, including Isabelle Kerr from Glasgow and Clyde Rape Crisis.

We hope that you will join us on 3 October to show your support for the survivors of gender-based violence and that you leave feeling inspired to host a Chai Day to raise vital funds for our projects.

A bookfair and day of talks, workshops and screenings, exploring contemporary feminism and technology.

The day will include workshops, talks and screenings exploring technofeminism, storytelling, sonic ritual, gender identity, reproductive justice and indigenous knowledge with writers, artists, mystics, poets and academics. In the spirit of the 1980s international feminist bookfairs, there will also be over thirty stalls to explore across Level G, and selected events for free.

Join campaigner Caroline Criado-Perez as she chats to Alex Clark about her new book, Invisible Women. The book explores the data biases that impact on women’s lives and health – from the use of male crash test dummies to the temperature of our offices, so many things have been designed with men in mind. What would the world look like if things were a bit more equitable?

Throughout history, black women’s voices have been missing from the media. New platforms offer opportunities to hear new voices, and BBC’s the Social is one way that women of colour have reached new audiences for their work. Join Gender Equal to hear from contributors to the Social, revisit their work, and explore questions around creative freedoms, precarious work, and speaking out.

This fab group in Manchester want to make tech more diverse and welcome more women and non-binary people to Tech by bringing those who are learning how to code or are interested in learning how to code together and helping you grow your coding skill.

Come along and learn how to code (HTML, CSS, JavaScript) during our weekly coding session with the help of an experienced mentor and various online resources and platforms. If you’re working on any other languages or frameworks not mentioned here and need help, please send them an email and they will happily try and find you a mentor to help you.

The Circle Connects is an online networking with the Relationship Manager and members of The Circle who are interested in being active through their membership. Whether you’re new to The Circle or can’t make some of our events due to your location, then you may consider joining us to meet fellow members and allies.

Join The Circle’s Relationship Manager online for an informal discussion as she gives updates from The Circle’s core team and our individual Circle committees that are tailored to the members attending. Peta hosts online conversations every few months to connect members virtually, to share inspiring stories of members taking action for The Circle and to answer any questions you may have.

Lone Design Club is hosting a networking event for female empowerers and entrepreneurs to unite, network and hear the amazing stories from some women who have achieved great things. Welcoming all entrepreneurs, founders, women in business, lovers of independent emerging labels, or those who are simply curious.

Owing to the Wimbledon Tennis Tournament and the sports theme of the store, they have selected a number of sports related speakers who will talk about their experiences in the sporting industry, what issues they faced, how they persevered and reached the height of their careers as well as women in fashion and business creators.

This is an opportunity to sound off about the patriarchy, politics, inequality and injustice through stand-up comedy, rhyme, song, swearing, ranting or any other means of expression. The evening will be led by comedians and poets and all ticket sales will be contributed towards fundraising for The Survivors Network.

The aim of this issue is not only to broaden definitions of what it means to identify as a woman, but also to raise the profile of the work of different global women’s movements which are working to highlight injustices and human rights violations which pertain specifically to womxn and girls. Shado are so excited to share this issue with you, which features stories and features from womxn from 36 countries around the world.

Shado will be teaming up with anti-FGM organisation The Vavengers to bring you a night of music, art, spoken word, food, drink…and, most importantly, celebration and inclusion.

This collage workshop uses feminist art, activism and current issues to inspire a new way of seeing the images that we are exposed to daily through media. Past participants described feeling relaxed and meditative during the workshop, enjoyed the exchange of ideas with a group of like-minded people and went away with a new conscious view on how women are portrayed in everyday media. This workshop is part of ‘Embrace Your Space’, a four-day festival of body positivity at CAVE, Pimlico.

The Coercive Control and Stalking training course aims to raise awareness around the impact of these crimes on the people who experience them.The course will explore the links between coercive control and stalking, and the differences between stalking and harassment. During the session we will explore case studies and the use of specialist risk assessments in providing effective support to victims of stalking. The course will also provide information on local specialist support services in the Wolverhampton area and how to access them.

The organisers recommend that you also attend, or have previously attended the Wolverhampton Domestic Violence Forum’s Coercive Control & Domestic Violence session.

You are invited to attend the latest event in our webinar series, Human Trafficking, with members of The Calgary Circle and ACT Alberta’s Manager of Training and Education.

Human trafficking occurs throughout Canada and within Alberta. ACT Alberta – the Action Coalition on Human Trafficking Alberta – has arisen in response to this violation of basic human rights. ACT Alberta works collaboratively with law enforcement, government agencies, and non-governmental organisations to identify and respond to human trafficking in our province.

This will be a great opportunity to find out more about our project with ACT and how The Calgary Circle have been supporting this organisation.

A kick-ass panel of women discussing “Know your worth: getting paid and negotiating”, followed by a Q&A and then drinks at Huckletree in Shoreditch. This discussion will be a positive discussion about women and money and tips on how to understand your value and how to ask for what you think is fair and get what you want.

Remembering Resistance is bringing to life the history of women’s protest in the North of England. The project is celebrating and cataloguing women’s efforts to bring about political change over the last 100 years by creating an archive of women’s activism to inspire future generations.

To ensure the voices of women who have been involved in protest are preserved, we are gathering accounts of protest actors, past and present. If you’ve been involved in campaigning and want to share your experiences, we would love to see you at our pop up event. Here you will be able to record your stories, map the routes your protest took and help develop a timeline of women’s protest movements. The aim of the project is to inspire the next generation by celebrating women’s role in activism. We can’t do this without your stories, so do please get involved!

Blooming Apples is a group of women standing for other women to rise together and bloom together as powerful and self-expressed individuals who once upon a time were victims of domestic violence and sexual assault.

Their very first event is an art exhibition featuring artists and creatives such as painters, illustrators, photographers, performing art and screening. “The Blooming Apples” exhibition is inspired by Rupi Kaur’s Poems from her books ‘Milk and Honey’ and ‘Sun and the Flowers’. The event/exhibition aims to be very sensory, interactive and impactful while inspires the viewer to rise and bloom again and again.

Join co-founders Katy Loftus and Eleanor Dryden as they speak to three phenomenal women who through their work and writing prove that it’s possible to change the world, and give us the tools to do it.

The speakers include: Zahra Hankir, a Lebanese-British journalist who writes about the intersection of politics, culture, and society in the Middle East, Gina Martin, an activist and writer. Gina led the successful national campaign to make upskirting illegal, which saw the Voyeurism Act being passed in early 2019 and coming into effect in April and Bethany Rutter, a writer, editor, fashion blogger, and a fierce UK voice in the debate around body positivity.

You may have heard the story of Jack the Ripper, but how much do you know about his victims? This tour investigates the grim and unfair situations women had to face in the 19th Century. This is a chance to hear about the real women behind the glorified vision of ‘Jack’, visiting the streets they would’ve known and seeing the physical reminders in an area that has changed almost beyond recognition. The walk will concentrate on women’s lives rather than their murders and aims to inspire you with the stories of brave and brilliant East End women, past and present.

Kiss My Genders is a group exhibition celebrating more than 30 international artists whose work explores and engages with gender identity. It brings together over 100 artworks by artists from around the world who employ a wide range of approaches to articulate and engage with gender fluidity, as well as with non-binary, trans and intersex identities.

Working across photography, painting, sculpture, installation and video, many of the artists in Kiss My Genders move beyond a conventional understanding of the body, and in doing so open up new possibilities for gender, beauty and representations of the human form.

The Media Circle is one of the newest circles being formed within The Circle. We are still organising ourselves and defining our goals and commitments. Those of us involved in the executive committee would like to invite you to an informal event of networking and discussion on the evening of August 7, 2019 in Central London. Our group is made up of media practitioners in London and we have enjoyed working with one another to define what The Media Circle can accomplish. It is an exciting moment for us as we move ahead on our ideas for supporting women’s empowerment. Perhaps the Media Circle is a good fit for you, too? We hope so!

Join comedian Deborah Frances-White for her comedy podcast, recorded in front of a live audience. Each episode, Deborah and her special guests discuss their noble goals as 21st century feminists and the paradoxes and insecurities which undermine them. The podcast has become a comedy phenomenon with over 60 million downloads since it launched in 2016. Guilty Feminist live presented by Deborah Frances-White and Amnesty International

Mrs Pankhurst’s Players present Shrew, their original take on one of Shakespeare’s most controversial plays. The Taming of the Shrew was described by George Bernard Shaw as “…altogether disgusting to modern sentiments”. This radical adaptation releases Shakespeare’s text from its comedic origins, reworking the original play to tell Kate’s story – a journey from strength and independence to a forced arranged marriage, foregrounding female experience in a man’s world.

Pauline is from France and is currently a second year Political Economy student at King’s College London with a deep interest in Women’s Rights and Feminist Issues.

Recently, our cultural consciousness has become suffused with stories of sexual violence – women’s stories that span decades. Finally, we are listening and believing. Yet, largely careless and titillating depictions of rape and sexual violence continue to dominate — ELLE, Nocturnal Animals, Gone Girl… Unvictiming interrogates how we should (re)present sexual violence.
Bringing together largely overlooked short films on the subject, Another Gaze: A Feminist Film Journal has selected a five decades-spanning series of short films on this subject as seen by women filmmakers. From Mendieta to Campion, this selection of work will be presented in context with a post-screening discussion

Join us for Jumble Fever on Saturday 19th January from 11am-3pm on the Mezzanine at The Tap Social, Oxford. Come along for vintage clothes, a bric a brac rummage, books, records, jewellery, dancing and more!

There will also be lunch available from Waste2TasteOx! £2 entry or free with a bag of donations! See you there!

Clothes swapping is the perfect way to revamp your wardrobe without spending a penny and helping to reduce some of the £140 million worth of clothing going into landfill every year. This is a brilliant way to keep fashion sustainable and get rid of those unworn clothes and fill your wardrobe with pre-loved goodies!

The event is keen to highlight the human rights abuses and exploitation of the environment which go into the mass production of clothes by the fashion industry. What a great sustainable alternative to disposable fashion, particularly as it falls during the January sale.

Fed up with the status quo?
What issues do you really care about?
How can you influence and support the people around you?

Come along to The Parliament Project’s next London workshop designed for young women to demystify the process of getting politically involved. Connect with other London based women as together we explore how women can best prepare for roles in politics, whether you’re involved in a political party or not.

By understanding the stages involved in getting elected; from choosing and joining a party, becoming an activist, through to selection and election, we hope to provide you with all the information you need to forge your own path in politics. You’ll hear from those who have chosen a political pathway for themselves, answer your questions, and direct you to the support you need to get started.

Join us at the May Fair Hotel on 23rd January for the UK screening of A Private War.

This film starring Rosamund Pike follows the incredible life of renowned journalist Marie Colvin, for which Annie Lennox has written and recorded the theme Requiem for A Private War. Oscar-nominated Heineman has created a devastating portrait of a complex, brilliant woman. In every scene, Pike fiercely inhabits Colvin who sacrificed her own safety and happiness to bear witness to the very human cost of armed conflict: ‘the people who have no voice’.

Following the success of the ‘Decolonising Contraception’ Event in Black History Month, we have decided to start a series around the topic!

The first of our four part series is surrounding the role that men play in the movement.

Panellists will be announced shortly!

DecolonisingContraception or Decolonise Contraception is a movement that aims to promote discussion related to the ways in which some sexual and reproductive health (SRH) practices have developed from unethical medical research, often on previously colonised populations. This movement intends to provide spaces to discuss how these issues still affect our practice today. Decolonizing Contraception aims to understand the colonial history of contraception, discuss modern contraceptive methods, and start new conversations about reproductive justice. We aim to empower those that seek contraception and other sexual health services to strive for reproductive justice, even if that means having difficult and awkward conversations.

There has always been a wing of feminism that looks to psychoanalysis for an elucidation of the problem of the difference between the sexes and of the problem of sexuality generally. While, at the same time, there has always been an opposing wing that roundly criticizes the theories that have been forthcoming – from male analysts such as Freud and Lacan – as ‘repressive’ towards women and deeply patriarchal. This situation has been modified, but not resolved, by the powerful intellectual contribution of female analysts such as Klein and Kristeva.

This day will be split into three sessions, each designed to provide an insight into the intersection between psychoanalysis and feminist thought.

Too often in media, on stage and online the experiences of Muslim women are absent, rarely do we see or hear Muslim women leading debate; whether that is a discussion on their lived experiences of racism, Islamophobia or sexism, or an area of their expertise; law, business, politics, education, health, to name but a few.

This workshop is to support Muslim women to be leading voices by providing training on dealing with media and public speaking. The half day free training will be delivered by Talat Yaqoob and will be interactive and give women confidence and skills in sharing their views and telling their stories.

The turbulent future that democratic elections anticipate all over the world seems rather bleak. The extreme right is capitalizing on the fear of permanently unstable conditions by making the other, the most vulnerable of us, responsible. Meanwhile, feminism and its intersections open the doors to alternative futures of dialogue with and respect for us all.

Celebrating the legacies of feminist science fiction writers Octavia E. Butler and Ursula K. Le Guin, thinkers from different disciplines will speak about these writers’ influence on their work in current or previous turbulent times.

Waterstones Gower Street and The Circle invite you to attend a new series of book talks inspired by The Circle Founder Annie Lennox’s campaign to promote Global Feminism, encouraging everyone to further understand the inequality around the world for the most disempowered and marginalised women and girls.

The first session will look at the need to protect and ensure the rights of women in the Fashion Industry. In conversation are Safia Minney and Tansy Hoskins, two exceptional women and authors who, through their work, are shining a light on the impact of the fast fashion industry and the need to end modern day slavery for the millions of women working in it.

Tickets are £10 / £8 (students and The Circle members) and include a glass of wine or soft drink

Join The Vavengers and The Royal College of Midwives for lunch and performances to mark this day.

This event aims to inspire a sense collaboration and of all of us working together, not only in supporting policies and initiatives in the UK, but supporting & cheering on grassroots activists/organizations in countries where FGM is practiced. Supported by The Dahlia Project, Forward, Midaye and Orchid Project.

Fast- Forward feminism; Resist, Reimagine, Rebuild is a two day student- led festival, that encourages critique and speculation of a discriminatory education system that does not represent us!

Bringing together artists, academics and grassroots activist, we will create a space that facilitates collective thinking, discussion and direct action to resist the current ‘neo-colonial white supremacist capitalist patriarchy.’ [bell hooks]

City of Joy, directed by first-time director Madeleine Gavin, follows the first class of women at a revolutionary leadership center in eastern Congo called City of Joy, from which the film derives its title, and weaves their journey as burgeoning leaders with that of the center’s founders (a devout Congolese doctor Dr. Denis Mukwege (2018 Nobel Peace Prize winner), women’s rights activist Christine Schuler-Deschryver (Director of City of Joy and V-Day Congo) and radical feminist Eve Ensler (author of The Vagina Monologues and Founder of V-Day/One Billion Rising) – three individuals who imagined a place where women who have suffered horrific rape and abuse can heal and become powerful voices of change for their country.

A story about the profound resilience of the human spirit, CITY OF JOY witnesses Congolese women’s fierce will to reclaim hope, even when so much of what was meaningful to them has been stripped away.

This screening will also be happening the following night in Oakland. In Oakland, immediately following the screening, audience members will be invited to RISE and participate in the One Billion Rising “Break the Chain” dance, as well as a Q&A with City of Joy Co-Founders Christine and Eve and She The People Founder Aimee Allison. Reflecting Bay Area Rising’s intersection of art, spirituality, and activism, the event will feature local dance, and music, including a drum procession led by Afia Walking Tree and performances by the Destiny Arts Youth Performance Company.This film is certainly not to be missed!

Stacey Dooley has firmly established herself as one of BBC3’s most celebrated presenters through her hugely popular investigative series, covering a wide-range of topics from sex trafficking in Cambodia, to Yazidi women fighting back in Syria.

At the core of her reporting are incredible women in extraordinary and scarily ordinary circumstances – from sex workers in Russia, to victims of domestic violence in Honduras. In her first book, On the Front Line with the Women Who Fight Back, Stacey draws on her encounters with these brave and wonderful women, using their experiences as a vehicle to explore issues at the centre of female experience.

This February, join Stacey as she celebrates the paperback publication of her bestselling debut. In this rare live appearance, Stacey talks about her remarkable career so far, and explores the themes of her book, discussing everything from gender equality, to sex trafficking and sexual identity, weaving these global strands together in an exploration of what it is to be women in the world today.

Unfortunately, this event has now sold out, however, you may still be able to find tickets online.

Join TED for the day as they turn their attention to uncover how women and non-binary and genderqueer people around the world over are ‘Showing Up’, facing challenges head on, and no longer accepting the status quo.

2018 has been named the ‘Year of the Woman’: all over the world, diverse groups are rising up, breaking out, pushing boundaries, and joining forces to pioneer real change, in business, technology, art, science, and politics.

London Feminist Film Festival presents an afternoon of feminist animation films by the amazing Leeds Animation Workshop, to celebrate their 40th birthday. They’ll be showing a selection of their best feminist shorts from the last four decades, followed by a Q&A, and will also have an exhibition of their artwork and archive material.

This UK-exclusive event, at The Southbank Centre, in collaboration with Penguin Live, presents Michelle Obama in conversation about her highly anticipated new memoir, ‘Becoming’, with acclaimed novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Reflecting on her memoir, Michelle Obama invites the audience at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall into her world, chronicling the experiences that have shaped her – from her childhood on the South Side of Chicago to her years as an executive, balancing the demands of motherhood and work, to her time spent at the world’s most famous address.

The moderator for the evening, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, is the bestselling author of the novels ‘Purple Hibiscus’, which won the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize; ‘Half of a Yellow Sun’, which won the Orange Prize; and ‘Americanah’, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award and was named one of the ten best books of 2013 by The New York Times. In 2012 she published ‘We Should All Be Feminists’ and her most recent book, ‘Dear Ijeawele, or a Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions’, was published in March 2017.

In discussions of contemporary feminism, it is no longer enough to talk about how society shapes the way women think and act. It is equally, if not more, important to consider how the gender binary impacts the way men behave; often to extreme measures. The construct of masculinity creates a suffocating environment for young boys to grow up in, that fosters insecurity, isolation, and even aggression. This evening we want to explore how film depicts what it means to ‘be a man’ today, and how this relates to the current climate of the film industry in Hollywood.

Join Kings College London for a screening of The Mask You Live In (Jennifer Siebel Newsom, 2015) plus a post-screening discussion and Q&A with guest speakers in partnership with The Representation Project.

Our members Laura and Lydia are inviting other members to their Chai Day on 8 December in Chiswick, London. This Chai Day is unique opportunity to connect with other like-minded people and to have a much loved item of clothing or jewellery mended at the ‘Repair Café’! This innovative Chai Day event is ideal for members working in or interested in sustainable fashion as the day promises to be a delicious gathering around discussion for The Circles two main objectives; ending gender-based violence and advocating for a living wage for workers in the garment industry.

On the 6th December 2018 women from across Suffolk will march to Reclaim the Night.

‘Just like many women before us we will raise our voices as one to demand an end to sexual violence … we will come together to highlight the unacceptable levels of violence against women within our communities and throughout the world. We will demand the right to use our streets in safety on this night and every night. And we will call on our politicians, local businesses and organisations to do their part to end violence against women.’

The New Year is near and for students the first term is almost over. And once again, these groups will be taking over your space with feminist festivity.

They will be starting off the night with a talk on decriminalisation of sex work and how sex workers are organising to fightback against exploitation. Then they will be gracing you with the most banging DJs, dance performances and drag.

All proceeds will go to supporting the mighty Ministry of Justice cleaners and security staff balloting for strike action and demanding the London Living Wage. Raise money by raising the roof at the best feminist party in town.

Together let’s rise like flowers through the cracks of the concrete city and join forces against exploitative work practices and injustice. It’s time for some collective joy.

Taking place in the SOAS buildings, this day is to include films and short clips on revolutionary women throughout history and the world including stories of Women in Mexican factories organise themselves to fight against exploitation and the destruction of their communities and ‘Free Angela Davis and All Political Prisoners’ in which Communist and revolutionary Angela Davis discusses the actions that led to her imprisonment and the worldwide political movement for her freedom.

For over a century women activists have played a leading role in seeking universal disarmament and arms control and in initiating peace projects – from the 1915 Women’s Peace Congress in The Hague through to the negotiations for the Nuclear Prohibition Treaty in 2017. The Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) has continuously lobbied for ‘total and universal disarmament’ and for nineteen years women protested at Greenham Common against the placing of cruise missiles in the UK. Despite these and many other efforts it is argued that rather than promoting peace, contemporary international law sustains militarism and legitimates the use of force. In addition new technologies are constantly used to increase the global weapons arsenal.

Join London School of Economic’s Centre for Women, Peace and Security for a thought-provoking debate with some of the subjects leading minds.

At this Stories of Women event, held at The Feminist Library, we are women drawing women; drawing each other – there is the chance to try life modelling yourself, or you may come to draw and/or listen or join in the conversation. There will be themed discussion about the body politics of life modelling and related matters, as well as plenty of time for questions you may bring. There is guidance for new models – no experience necessary, and some drawing materials are provided – again no experience necessary.

Life modelling and drawing are a really good way to address body image issues, as well as gaining confidence and broadening our experience by stepping out of our comfort zones. Teenage girls welcome.

The Sister Sister Network is proud to be hosting their very first Birmingham event. e They are inviting their members to this educative and impactful session with highly skilled leaders who are keen to bridge the gap between leadership and aspiring leaders. Tickets are free but spaces are limited.

Leadership for Women set out in 2018 to reach women in multiple global cities with a revised approach to leadership development and training. Their approach is simple but powerful – a blend of education and inspiration to support leadership development, inspire action and help women step up across communities.

The results have been powerful. With more women crediting their increased leadership awareness and performance to the Leadership for Women Series.

They wish to offer women the skills, tools and essential understanding to support effective leadership development and the opportunity to network and share ideas with female leaders in the community.

This seminar creates space to learn about economic abuse and the particular implications of the government’s austerity agenda.

Government recently recognised economic abuse as one of many forms of violence against women and girls. Economic abuse encompasses a range of mechanisms for violence, exploitation and impoverishment. However, despite gaining increasing public attention, the power of abusive men in relationships has been exacerbated by a swathe of welfare benefit reforms justified as part of the government’s austerity measures, the latest of which is Universal Credit. The speakers will shed light on their research into these experiences and make recommendations for change.

2018 has been a watershed year for women in many ways, not least in increasingly prominent roles covering sports on our screens, over the airways, online and in print.
NUJ Training Wales is delighted to be working with Cardiff Metropolitan University and Welsh equalities charity Chwarae Teg to bring together some of the leading female voices from the Welsh sports media and beyond for this important half-day conference.
Carolyn Hitt writer and columnist for the Western Mail and BBC Cymru Wales’ Dot Davies will chair our industry expert panels on print/online journalism and broadcast journalism will include Anna Kessel MBE, co-founder of Women in Football and journalist at The Guardian, Beth Fisher, Freelance Broadcast Journalist with BBC Sport Wales, Catrin Pascoe, Editor of The Western Mail, and Katie Sands, Welsh Journalist of the Year 2018.
There will also be a special panel of female sports journalism students who will share their motivations, their career plans and their hopes for the future.
The event will examine issues including the representation of women’s sport, the challenges faced by women working across the sports media industry and changing attitudes of commissioners and audiences alike.

The eagerly-awaited bronze sculpture of Emmeline Pankhurst is set to be unveiled in Manchester’s St Peter’s Square today. Designed by sculptor Hazel Reeves, the statue will show Pankhurst standing on a chair as if addressing a crowd, with one arm outstretched; she will face towards the Free Trade Hall, a venue for radical suffragette activism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Adorn yourself or a loved one with an elegant and unique piece of jewellery from the SeeMe X The Circle collection. See Me and The Circle have launched a beautiful and ethically-made jewellery collection to celebrate ten years of Women Empowering Women. SeeMe employs women, often single mothers, who have suffered violence and were ostracised from their communities in Tunisia. Through training SeeMe employees learn the craft of jewellery making following ancient Tunisian techniques. Therefore, while fostering their country’s traditions, they also secure a workplace for themselves and a future for their families. The perfect Christmas present!

16 December – Read Lindsey Hilsum’s In Extremis: The Life of War Correspondent Marie Colvin

When Marie Colvin was killed in an artillery attack in Homs, Syria, in 2012, at age fifty-six, the world lost a fearless and iconoclastic war correspondent who covered the most significant global calamities of her lifetime. In Extremis, written by her fellow reporter Lindsey Hilsum, is a thrilling investigation into Colvin’s epic life and tragic death based on exclusive access to her intimate diaries from age thirteen to her death, interviews with people from every corner of her life, and impeccable research.

This feature documentary is a study of the sex trade, a reality that has expanded worldwide to become a true industry, both online and off, over the course of the past few decades. Part investigative report and part editorial, the film is a foray into a brutal world whose key players trivialize the impact of their actions by claiming that prostitution is simply a service like any other. But who’s really benefiting?

The Calgary Circle held a screening of this in November in support of The Action Coalition on Human Trafficking Alberta.

Before you go out to do some last-minute Christmas shopping, watch this.

This is a story about clothing. It’s about the clothes we wear, the people who make them, and the impact the industry is having on our world. The price of clothing has been decreasing for decades, while the human and environmental costs have grown dramatically. “The True Cost” is a ground-breaking documentary film that pulls back the curtain on the untold story and asks us to consider, who really pays the price for our clothing?
Filmed in countries all over the world, from the brightest runways to the darkest slums, and featuring interviews with the world’s leading influencers including Stella McCartney, Livia Firth and Vandana Shiva, “The True Cost” is an unprecedented project that invites us on an eye opening journey around the world and into the lives of the many people and places behind our clothes.

Organised by the Glasgow Women’s Library are excited to be running a new reading group in Edinburgh for women of colour to come together and discuss literature by women writers of colour. The group is free to attend and will be discussing a number of authors such as Scotland’s Makar Jackie Kay, Ruri Kaur and Sim Bajwa.

20 December – Read Lucy Siegle’s To Die For: Is Fashion Wearing Out the World?

In this impassioned book, Siegle analyses the global epidemic of unsustainable fashion, taking stock of our economic health and moral accountabilities to expose the pitfalls of fast fashion. Refocusing the debate squarely back on the importance of basic consumer rights, Siegle reveals the truth behind cut price, bulk fashion and the importance of your purchasing decisions, advocating the case for a new sustainable design era where we are assured of value for money: ethically, morally and in real terms.

Get it as a gift, or for yourself!

21 December – Make fundraising plans for next year

Set targets, think about what projects you want to support. Your activist New Year’s Resolution, if you will.

How does one find joy amid unspeakable tragedy? Madeleine Gavin’s documentary City of Joy, about a community built around women who have survived horrific violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), gives us a glimpse at both an incredible injustice still occurring today, and how Congolese women are combating it with their own grassroots movement.

“Everything is about love at City of Joy,” Schuler Deschryver told the Guardian. She described how many of the women who first arrive at City of Joy associate being touched only with violence. “So when you hug her and tell her she’s beautiful, that you love her, that you will fight for her, suddenly she’s like: ‘Oh my God, I exist. I’m a human being.’ You see the joy that [the women] have and know what they’ve passed through. I think that’s one of the reasons I wake up every morning.”

We have added the option to Gift a Membership on our website! Whether the recipient is your mother, your daughter, an aunt, a colleague, a partner or friend; The Circle membership is the perfect gift for a woman who wants to become more actively involved in the global women’s movement, bring attention to important issues and amplifying the voices of vulnerable women. The perfect Christmas gift of empowerment this year!

24 December – Feminism is for everybody

Read Bell Hookes’ classic Feminism Is For Everybody.

‘Simply put, feminism is a movement to end sexism, sexist exploitation, and oppression.’ So begins Feminism is for Everybody, a short, accessible introduction to feminist theory by one of its most influential practitioners. Designed to be read by all genders, this book provides both a primer to the question ‘what is feminism?’ and an argument for the enduring importance of the feminist movement today.

As part of the New Suns Feminist Literary Festival, Charlie Brinkhurst-Cuff, gal-dem deputy editor, leads a panel discussion exploring the experiences and myths surrounding the Caribbean matriarch in the UK.

Many of the Windrush generation who came to Britain were promised to find a mythical land where the streets were paved with gold. When the Windrush docked on 22nd June 1948, its 498 Carribean passengers (plus stowaways) who had travelled arrived in the hope of finding better paid work and living prospects. Often it was the Carribean woman whose identity and experiences captured the experience of dislocation and struggle. In some instances, the history of their struggle has been erased and now in the aftermath of the Windrush scandal, second and third generation Carribean migrants want to change the narrative.

The panel discussion has been covered with gal-dem and features journalist Kemi Alemoru, lecturer Sharon Frazer-Carroll and make-up artist Kay Montano.

Do you have to think that prostitution is good to support sex worker rights? How do sex worker rights fit with feminist and anti-capitalist politics? Is criminalising clients progressive—and can the police deliver justice?

In conversation, sex workers Juno Mac and Molly Smith discuss their new book Revolting Prostitutes, which brings a fresh perspective to questions that have long been contentious. Speaking from a growing global sex worker rights movement, and situating their argument firmly within wider questions of migration, work, feminism, and resistance to white supremacy, they make clear that anyone committed to working towards justice and freedom should be in support of the sex worker rights movement. The conversation will be chaired by Layla-Roxanne Hill.

The Circle is proud to be teaming up with The Vavengers for this night of music and conversation to raise awareness about Chai Day, a campaign to eliminate gender-based violence. Short for ‘Vagina Avengers’, The Vavengers are a team of creatives based in London who organise events to tackle Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).
Join us for a night of entertainment and inspiring music from Before Breakfast, Cecillia Knapp and Quiet Man. It is the perfect opportunity to learn more about Chai Day and be inspired to host your own Chai Day on November 25th!
Proceeds from ticket sales will be going to support La Fraternite, a grass-roots charity that campaigns to end FGM by organising workshops for the Guinean Community in and around London. There will also be opportunities to give donations on the night that will all go towards The Circle’s Chai Day grass-roots projects based in South Africa, India and the UK!

Join The Calgary Circle for a screening of The Sex Trade, by Canadian filmmaker Eve Lamont.

This feature documentary takes a behind-the-scenes look at the sex industry operating in Canada and investigates who benefits. A short question and answer period with representatives from The Action Coalition on Human Trafficking Alberta (ACT) and the RCMP will follow the film.

A reception, with wine and beer, will be held before the screening. Doors open at 6:30 pm and film starts at 7:00 pm.

Come out and join us as we learn more about this challenging and important issue facing so many women and girls and help us raise funds in support of ACT’s work helping victims of human trafficking.

Come and join us to celebrate The Asian Circle’s 5th Anniversary, generously hosted by The LaLit Hotel London, where stunning Victorian grandeur meets Indian opulence.
Our VIPs and guests will meet just after midday at at a drinks reception on the heated terrace. This is followed by The Lalit’s famous exquisite High Chai in the Baluchi Great Hall with its breathtaking Hyderabadi blue chandeliers.
Hear about our successful project in rural communities in Chhattisgarh, India, to reduce domestic violence and empower women and girls. The award-winning project created in partnership with Oxfam India and local NGOs has been recently adopted for state wide deployment. All funds raised on the day will be donated to this project.
Come dressed for the occasion in your Maharani & Maharaja finery for High Chai.

The Circle is proud to announce that we will be part of the third annual Women Of The World Festival in Bradford.

WOW Bradford promises to be a weekend of talks, discussions, music, activism, performance, mentoring and big ideas, and we’ll be hearing from women who are breaking the mold in science, entrepreneurship, the arts, sport, economics, health and business from Bradford, nationally and internationally. There are sessions on everything from personal lives though to global concerns, including race, body image, violence against women and girls, religion, the role of men in gender equality and even a special one-off set from Kate Tempest.

The Circle’s Relationship Manager, Peta Barrett, will be at our stall at the WOW Market Place all weekend sharing information about the important part we play in the global movement for gender equality. We hope to see you there!
If you are based in or around Braford and interested in becoming a member, or helping us to manage our stall, send your information through on our Contact Us page and we’ll be in touch!

Half day conference organised by the SSLH followed by AGM. This free event will include a number of academic speakers talking on a range of subjects to do with feminist activism, gender inequality and working women.

The Circle is proud to announce that we will be part of the WOW – Women Of The World Festival in Cardiff, on 24 and 25 November.
The WOW Festival will include a range of workshops, talks, debates, performances and art open to the public. Some highlights from the WOW Festival Cardiff programme include: Gwenno Saunders, Charlotte Church, Michael Sheen, Sian Evans, Lula Mehbratu (The Digital Migrant),Sahar Al-Faifi, Sian James former MP, Gemma Price (Boxing Pretty), Anna Hursey, Shahien Taj OBE, Lucy Owen (BBC Wales) and Layfullstop among others.

As part of the festival, The Cwtch Café is hosting a Chai Day event with The Circle and Henna Foundation from 10:30 to 12:30 on Sunday 25 November.
Chai Day is about gathering together friends, family or colleagues and using that time to raise awareness about violence against women and to raise money to support survivors and work towards ending gender-based violence.
Join us at The Cwtch Café from 10:30 – 12:30 to hear from our Relationship Manager, Peta Barrett, who will be sharing information about our grass-roots projects supported by Chai Day. We are thrilled to be sharing this important platform with The Henna Foundation’s Executive Director, Shahien Taj, who will be sharing more about the services they provide to muslim families and encouraging safer, stronger communities through raising awareness of key issues they may face.

In the climate of #MeToo, #YoTambien and #BalanceTonPorc, Reclaim the Night is as relevant as ever – if not more so. Violence against women continues to occur every minute of every day, but women everywhere are making a stand.
Join us for London Reclaim the Night! Close down central London for women, put your feet on the streets to shout a loud NO to rape and all forms of male violence against women.Join us and join millions across the globe who will be marking the annual United Nations Day to End Violence Against Women (25th November) with demonstrations and marches.

Reclaim the Night came to the UK 40 years ago, in 1977. One of the first marches took place in Leeds where women took to the streets to protest the police requesting women to stay at home after dark in response to the Yorkshire Ripper murders. Placards read “No curfew on women – curfew on men”. It is hard to believe we are still marching 40 years later, yet the recent outpouring of #MeToo on social media only makes it clear why this is important. The statistics speak for themselves: two women a week are killed by their male partner or ex-partner. One in three women experience sexual abuse of some kind in their lifetime. This is unacceptable. This march is a show of strength and a collective demand for freedom from sexual violence and harassment.

Katie Rose is hosting a Chai Day which is open to all who want to raise awareness and funds to help end gender-based violence and support women and girls through The Circle’s Chai Day Projects.
Bring friends and cake to share – to suit your dietary requirements. People of all genders welcome!
The event will be collecting donations for The Circle (suggested donation £5) and sanitary products for local Period Poverty Charity We-STAP

Remembering the women killed by known men in the UK A peaceful creative ‘Murder March’ to remember and represent the women murdered in the UK by partners, ex-partners, family members i.e. domestic violence murders.

This #DeadWomenWalking walk is to raise awareness of the women behind the statistics of domestic violence murders. Raising awareness of domestic violence and fatal male violence against women to coincide with International day for the elimination of violence against women and the 16 days of action.
The walk will be a visual and respectful march of women wearing red ponchos – During the walk the names of all the women killed by known men in the last 12 months will be read out. This is an event for women – women representing women killed and women stewarding themselves. Men are welcome to donate if they’d like to support.

The Circle members are invited to our Chai Day, where we will discuss gender-based violence and what we can do to help end it. With guest speakers and the perfect opportunity to raise awareness for some of our amazing projects, this is not to be missed. Taking place within the 16 Days of Action, our Chai Day is a way to get your friends or colleagues together over a cup of tea, to raise awareness about gender-based violence and raise funds to support survivors and help end violence against women and girls.

CTDC is delighted to announce its third annual conference titled Decolonising Knowledge around Gender and Sexuality, and organised in partnership with Kohl: Journal for Bodily and Gender Research, and UCL taking place on November 30, 2018 at UCL.

The conference will bring in a number of practitioners, students, artists, and academics from Palestine, Pakistan, Lebanon, Egypt, South Africa and Tunisia to discuss themes around decolonising discourses around gender and sexuality in academia and beyond, shedding light on feminist pedagogy, sexual liberation, reproductive justice and positionality. In addition to that, our speakers will also highlight the potential for arts-informed inquiry to decolonise methodology and will also demonstrate how imported forms of feminisms, particularly those relying on social media, are not the way forward for gender and sexual justice.

The conference will kick off with a keynote panel discussion by Kohl editors and CTDC directors, who will explore the importance of decolonising methodologies in research and practice and in relation to Global South knowledge production.

This V&A exhibition presents an extraordinary collection of personal artefacts and clothing belonging to the iconic Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. Locked away for 50 years after her death, this collection has never before been exhibited outside Mexico.

100 Years of Suffrage is a feminist festival taking part over three weekends, July 20th – August 5th. The event will be held at Aire Place Studios

The festival opens on Friday night with an exhibition featuring two feminist artists whose work, whilst working in completely different styles, looks into redefining beauty standards. This will be followed by an after party featuring women and non-binary djs.

The next event is a day of workshops and talks for women and non-binary people. It really focuses on the last 100 years of suffrage and what the next 100 years have in store for feminism. This will feature talks about suffragettes of colour, talks from women MPs and their experiences in parliament and feminist activists will discuss their battles with law changes and policy makers. This will culminate in a spoken word open mic where women and non-binary people can share their political experiences.

The final event is a peddle powered feminist cinema, showing independent films from women and non-binary directors featuring films with the theme of suffrage and how far we’ve come. Vegan food will be on sale.

The aim is to bring the community together to learn, share and celebrate the last 100 years of suffrage.

Discover some of the suffragette sources from the collections at Tower Hamlets Local History Library and Archives. Read the real Woman’s Dreadnought, see our first edition copy of The Suffragette signed by its author Sylvia Pankhurst, and browse our unique collection of pamphlets, news cuttings and photographs. With an introduction from Robert Jones, Heritage Officer (Library), and then a chance to explore the material.

A special edition of Tower Hamlets Archives regular East End History Club, exploring women’s lives in Tower Hamlets throughout the twentieth century. These sessions are ideal for those who are curious about local history and want to find out more. There’s no need to book, just drop in. Tea, coffee and biscuits provided.

Levels of displacement have never been higher than they are now. There are currently 68.5 million forcibly displaced people. 28.5 million of those are refugees and asylum seekers.

Refugee and asylum-seeking women and girls face challenges on multiple fronts, including their gender and their situation as displaced people. Displaced women and girls are at a higher risk of experiencing sexual violence and many have to give up their education.

Join us in our second webinar to learn about these and other challenges that millions of refugee women and girls are facing and find out more about how you can support them to overcome these challenges.

Speakers will be Laura Padoan, a UNHCR Spokesperson, and Claire Lewis, from the UNHCR Global Goodwill Ambassador Programme.

The Sex Worker Advocacy and Resistance Movement (SWARM), the English Collective of Prostitutes (ECP) and Scot-Pep are having a party and you’re invited!

They’re raising money for a plaque commemorating beloved friend Laura Lee, who tragically died this year. Laura was a giant among sex work activists, a fearless campaigner and a dear comrade. They will be remembering Laura with a minute’s silence at the event.

Further money raised will go to Sex Workers’ Alliance Ireland (SWAI), who are fighting against the Nordic Model in Ireland.

Hot Brown Honey turn up the heat with lashings of sass and a hot pinch of empowerment in the smash-hit, genre-defying, award-winning firecracker of a show that’s taken the world by storm. Taking on intersectional feminism, cultural appropriation and female sexuality, this is a must see at the Edinburgh Fringe.

Aire Place Studios warmly welcome you to celebrate the end of “100 Years of Suffrage” with a pedal powered screening of ‘Shireen of al-Walaja’ Shireen is a powerhouse of everything it means to be a woman. As her Palestinian village shrinks, Shireen’s strength and courage grows. Please note this film features state violence.

This Story Cafe Special is part of our Vote 100 programme, marking 100 years since some of the first women in Britain were granted the right to vote. Bring your daughters, granddaughters and nieces to celebrate!

Story Café Special: Girl by Girl, Vote by Vote, Thursday 9th August, 12.30pm to 2.30pm, for anyone aged 10+
This event is aimed at girls and young women 10+ but all are welcome. All children must be accompanied by an adult.

Sheena Wilkinson, one of the UK’s foremost writers for young people, will reveal the secrets behind her latest novel, Star by Star, a bold tale of Suffragettes and heroes, courage and survival.

In 2018 the film industry, for so long a haven of misogyny and sexism, has found itself at the heart of a worldwide ‘cataclysmic global reckoning’, in which women everywhere are standing up defiantly against predatory male behaviour. In Brave, the American actress Rose McGowan recounts her fight against the Hollywood machine. Today she talks to Afua Hirsch about her campaign to help all women reclaim their lives.

Part of the Identity Parades series of events and sponsored by Open University.

The Circle welcomes members and their guests to a summer networking event in August. Share a cold beverage with like-minded individuals who are working with The Circle to empower some of the most marginalised women and girls in communities around the globe. At the event you can learn more about the projects we are supporting and ways that you can get involved to make a difference.

The event will take place at The Rotary, a venue with a beautiful outdoor space just outside Regent’s Park.

How can we confront institutions about their role in perpetuating violence and work to make institutions more open and inclusive spaces?

This panel will explore some of the paradoxes and difficulties of doing feminist and anti-racist work within institutions. Even when institutions claim to be committed to equality they are often deeply unequal and hierarchical spaces. A feminist and anti-racist project is to transform the institutions in which we work. The aim of transforming institutions is still however an institutional project: we often have to work through the structures we seek to dismantle. When our political work is resourced or supported by an institution does it become more difficult to confront the institution? Does following procedures or working in house constrain the kinds of work we can do? If for strategic reasons we try to avoid confrontation what else are we avoiding? And how and why are some of us perceived as being confrontational however we are doing the work?

The panel will be a chance to talk from as well as about our experiences of doing feminist and anti-racist work. The panel will consider who does (and does not) do the work of trying to transform institutions and how these distributions of labour can reproduce inequalities, and will discuss the costs of doing (and not doing) this labour and reflect on how institutions can exhaust us and wear us out. The panel will open up a discussion of how we can confront problems of institutional racism, institutional sexism (including sexual harassment and sexual misconduct) as well as institutional bullying.

gal-dem’s panel will explore women of colour and BME women’s experiences of street harassment: the ways in which this harassment is frequently laced or combined with racism and Islamophobia and how a culture of harassment fits into the wider spectrum of violence perpetrated against women because of their gender or perceived gender.

Empower Her Voice (EHV) is bringing you a comedy festival —a night of spectacular talent hosted by Verity Babbs.

This event will be raising money to fund scholarships for girls to attend the Sanjan Nagar school in Lahore, Pakistan. Book your ticket: all ticket sales will go towards funding the entire education (12 years) of ten young Pakistani girls.

There is a serious lack of female representation in the DJ scene. Only 10% of performers at music festivals around the world are female and an even smaller percentage of women are on music label rosters. The Oxford scene is no different.

Here, for Hugh’s Arts Week, students at Oxford University want to redress this imbalance in the Oxford DJ scene. We’ve got an incredible, exclusively female trio of DJs from Cuntry Living Magazine. They’ll teach all you gals the ropes.

Anyone who identifies either fully or partially as woman, or who has a complex gender identity that may include “woman” is very welcome!

Journalist and author of It’s Only Blood Anna Dahlqvist is in conversation with Gabby Edline, activist and founder of Bloody Good Period. Attend this event to learn more about issues of gender inequality facing women and girls due to the lack of essential sanitary products and education, which are perpetuated by social and cultural shaming. In her book, Anna tells shocking and moving stories of why and how people from Sweden, Bangladesh, Uganda and the USA are fighting back against the shame.

This “festival of motherhood and work” is aimed at women who have felt pushed out of their careers after having children, as well as those who are thinking about motherhood and want to be armed with some invaluable insights.
Sessions cover topics from flexi-working to knowing your legal rights (in case your boss doesn’t). Expect to learn from the funniest and most successful mums around.

Climate change is a feminist issue. Women are disproportionately vulnerable to the environmental crises we face. This panel presents women working on the frontline of resistance. Judy Ling Wong OBE, ambassador for the Women’s environmental Network and founder of the Black Environmental Network, and Lisa Schipper, researcher at the Overseas Development Institute, will draw on their experiences in the field to address the crucial link between women and climate change.

The Feminist Library will be hosting an event on the place of feminism in tech! This time round they’ll be talking AI from a feminist perspective —they’ll be asking questions like: what does feminist AI look like? Is it possible to have feminist AI? They’ll be opening the evening with a couple of films on the topic and then welcoming speakers from academia, activism and filmmaking, with a range of perspectives on feminism and AI. The panel will include inspiring women from Commons Co-Creation Platform, Code Liberation Front / Goldsmith’s University London, Ada-AI and the Feminist Library.

They are inviting you to join the discussions, watch feminism & AI films with us and hear feminists who work in this area shine a light on it from a range of perspectives. It will be a relaxed evening of interesting screenings and discussions, with drinks and snacks available to make your evening even more enjoyable.

The Empower Project are having their first ever AGM and there’s going to be pizza! Get your ticket for a zine making workshop to make their annual report, speakers & food.

The Empower Project is an NGO based in Scotland working on creative ways to tackle gender-based violence and online abuse. This year they have already co-hosted a decoding event with Amnesty International to take down #ToxicTwitter and held discussion groups and training sessions and put on a feminist disco! The best part is you can be a member for just £1! “Come for the pizza! Stay for the smashing of the patriarchy!”

28 May — Menstrual Hygiene Day

Menstrual Hygiene Day is “a global platform that brings together non-profits, government agencies, the private sector, the media and individuals to promote Menstrual Hygiene Management (MHM)”. At The Circle we’re focussing on #MenstruationMatters throughout May. The Music Circle are planning a Night Walk through London to raise awareness about Menstruation Matters and raise funds to support young women and girls who do not have access to sanitary products or reproductive health education. If you would like to sponsor them, please click here.

Join comedian Deborah Frances-White for her comedy podcast, recorded in front of a live audience.
In each episode Deborah and her guests discuss their noble goals as 21st century feminists and the paradoxes and insecurities which undermine them. The podcast has been a huge success with over 10,000,000 downloads since it started at the beginning of last year.

The Women’s Movement of the 1970s empowered women to step behind the camera in larger numbers. Their pioneering work platformed voices, stories and issues previously ignored or misrepresented.

The ground-breaking directors highlighted in this series made films outside the mainstream industry, frequently through activist film cooperatives and collectives. Their work was screened in “consciousness-raising” groups, at political conventions and in other alternative venues, and was often intended to spark discussion and action on women’s issues.

These films offered alternate visions to the mainstream, introducing subjects of interest to women and reshaping how films were made in ways that continue to be influential. Through cinema vérité, animation, experimentation and autobiographical techniques, such as images from dreams and entries from diaries, a new cinematic language was forged to capture a shared experience.

The Suffrage movement was the start for many positive changes for women in the 20th Century. Now in 2018 we commemorate the past as we continue to advocate for change. Members of The Circle are committed to amplifying the voices for the most marginalised women and girls to ensure they are empowered by lasting change in the global movement for gender equality. On 10 June PROCESSIONS will be taking place in Belfast, Cardiff, Edinburgh and London.

PROCESSIONS is a celebratory mass participation artwork to commemorate the centenary of the women’s right to vote in the UK.

Some members of The Circle will be attending the event. Email us at hello@thecircle.ngo if you would like to join them.

Hotline, Edinburgh’s resident female and non-binary DJ night, is moving to Glasgow! Hotline creates safe and inclusive spaces for LGBTQ+ people and will continual to do so in Glasgow. Great tunes and great people!

This exhibition at LSE features archive items and objects from the Women’s Library collection —including banners, sashes, badges and much more— to show the campaign methods of the three main groups for women’s suffrage: the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU), the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS) and the Women’s Freedom League (WFL). It concentrates on the last (and often bitter) years of the long campaign of the struggle for women’s right to vote from 1908 to 1914, with the inclusion of prison diaries and leaflets detailing tactics, such as “rushing” the House of Commons.

Written by @AnnaRenfrew. Anna is a student at The University of Edinburgh and a volunteer at The Circle.

Photo credit: Judit Prieto | The Circle members at March 4 Women, London.

Inspired by the Feminist Calendars written by our fantastic volunteers, we wanted to put some additional external events for April onto your agenda. Events are a great way to meet other members and learn more about some of the issues we are addressing in our projects. If you are planning to attend any of these listed below, please email us at hello@thecircle.ngo so we can connect you with other members who are also interested in attending.

Issue: Inequality
Join The Elders, the Fight Inequality Alliance and the Atlantic Fellows for an event at LSE, London. The event is in honour of grassroot efforts around the world to address the inequality crisis and learn more about joining the #WalkTogether movement.

The Elders are an independent group of global leaders working together for peace and human rights. It was set up in 2007 by Nelson Mandela, Graça Machel and Desmond Tutu.

The Circle is committed to a guaranteeing a living wage for garment workers in the fast fashion supply chains. With Fashion Revolution Week taking place from 23-29 April, it’s the best time to brush up on your knowledge of The Circle’s Living Wage Project. Being informed about the fast fashion industry allows understanding of the greater context in which financial inequality for women and girls is perpetuated within fast fashion supply chains.

Here are some events being run by fellow members to help you be better informed:

Another incredible member of The Circle and Founder of Enchanted Rebels, Lianne Bell, will be hosting and co-hosting a series of live events on Facebook, including Dress Ethically. She will be joined by ONE SAVVY MOTHER for a live Facebook event that aims to bring you closer to the people who make your clothes. They’ll be sharing their own experiences and answering your questions!

The Circle member Lianne Bell will be having a good old chinwag with Ethical Fashion Blogger Tolly Dolly Posh about greenwashing. Lianne is based in Taiwan, but the chat will be taking place online at 15:30 UK time.

Written by Peta Barrett.

Peta is a member of The Circle since 2016 and The Circle Relationship Manager since 2017.